Peter Pan leaves sports fan a ballet convert

Jay Buchan
Sports Writer
ay has worked at the QT for five years covering most sports in Ipswich, from mountain running to gliding. His passion for writing about sport stems from his inability to come close to mastering any as a competitor, though he once captained Chris Latham in colts. Jay’s sporting heroes include Mark Ella, Steven Bradbury and Jarred Lacey.

The story line was obviously Peter Pan, so anyone, adult or child, familiar with the story could follow the plot.

But the production and performance raised it from a familiar story to something wonderful.

At times it was mesmerising, with the dancing, choreography and music melding magically.

The dancing accentuated the mood of the music and vice-versa while the use of light, screens and shadows added layers to the plot and the visual feast.

Hook's maniacal prancing contrasted with Peter's muscular elegance, Wendy was earnest and graceful and the Lost Boys provided the comic relief, along with Wendy's baby brother who nearly stole the show with his (her) effervescent display.

In some ways the ballet was more revealing and descriptive than any literature, with metaphors (one character seemed to be Captain Hook's inner-child who, if shown a bit of love and affection, would not have turned into a tyrant), sub plots, humour and high emotion, all portrayed vividly without a word.

Perhaps the toughest part was choosing where to focus during any one scene.

While the lead dancers were exquisite, with their grace and athleticism highlighted by the music, there was constant movement and action from the support dancers to catch the eye.

But there was also great reward in losing the focus on individuals and taking in the entire scene as a broader whole.

When you did this, particularly in the scenes that were not so much plot-oriented but purely provided for visual and aural stimulation, it became hypnotic.

Then the movement, music, colour and light became one, in a manner this ignorant correspondent had not previously experienced from any art form.

The show is sensibly divided into three parts with two intermissions, ensuring young children didn't have to sit still and quiet for too long. It wasn't a problem for our eight-year-old, who watched entranced throughout.

Our six-year-old's attention occasionally drifted away from the show. The biggest problem was getting them to keep their excitement to themselves.

Every time they recognised something they had to share it with everyone within earshot.

When it was over we had the luxury of a walk across the Brisbane River, through the Botanic Gardens to our suite at the Oaks Aurora Tower, on Queen St.

On the 31st floor of the 67-storey building our views were incredible, from the Story Bridge and river below us to what seemed like most of south-east Queensland.

The kids loved the heated pool and to walk down to the river front for breakfast in the sunshine topped off a fantastic experience for the whole family.